Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



(image via NYSD)

"We don’t have a Mark Twain in our time, this time, which in so many ways resembles his. I know there are many among us who would volunteer or offer a suggestion but none fits. His genius was that he wrote about it and typified it; the human conflict that leads to all roads of ruin. I think of him at times, wondering how this sharp and clever mind would see us and the world around us. I wonder how he’d see the Oil Leak in the Gulf, for example. Or the whole mortgage mess (he was a man who knew about the horrors and burdens of personal debt). Or the tattoos. Or the cell phones. In his world that would all be ripe for satire and parody. But Twain’s day was a far different day. The Tattooed Lady was a sideshow at the carnival. People went and gawked. They also understood that for her, it was a living. Tattooed ladies today are as familiar as the Golden Arches, which no dobut has its share; a dime a dozen." (NYSocialDiary)



"West Wing creator and An American President scribe Aaron Sorkin will make his feature directorial debut on a drama that chronicles the scandalous implosion of Senator John Edwards' 2008 run to be the Democratic presidential candidate. It ended shockingly when a tabloid newspaper revealed that the married senator had fathered an illegitimate child with Rielle Hunter -- a claim Edwards denied, denied, denied, and then finally admitted, much to the amazement of his cancer-stricken wife Elizabeth who was blindsided. Sorkin has optioned The Politician, the book by one-time Edwards aide Andrew Young that was published last January by Thomas Dunne Books. 'This is a first hand account of an extraordinary story filled with motivations, decisions and consequences that would have lit Shakespeare up,' Sorkin said in a statement." (Deadline)



"As Joran Van der Sloot waits in a Peruvian jail to be tried for the murder of Stephany Flores, it increasingly appears that a highly disturbed young man was allowed to rampage freely for years. New revelations indicate that the list of missing women linked to the 22-year-old Dutchman may grow even longer, all because Aruban police failed to imprison him five years ago. Not long after Van der Sloot narrowly escaped prosecution for the disappearance of American teen Natalee Holloway in Aruba on May 30, 2005, he headed home to Holland to finish his studies. He had served three months in Aruban jail after Holloway disappeared, but was released that September due to lack of evidence. Back in Holland, he took a few classes, but spent most of his time gambling in the casinos and smoking pot in the coffee bars. In Holland, he met up with an old friend who had just returned from Thailand with a string of exotic dancers. The friend was netting $13,000 in cash for each woman he brought into a Dutch prostitution ring. Van der Sloot, a born risk-taker, wanted in on the action, and his friend quickly set him up with the Dutch pimp." (TheDailyBeast)



"As daytime soaps move toward extinction, it's not just restless housewives and the unemployed who suffer -- it's advertisers, who prefer soaps to the game and talk shows that are replacing them. Though the alternatives are cheaper and easier for networks to produce, media buyers tell TheWrap that soaps are still one of the most cost-effective buys on broadcast television. 'They are even more efficient than much of daytime cable programming,' one ad buyer said. 'I would be disappointed if all of the soap operas disappeared.' There's plenty of evidence that those sands are running out of the hourglass -- and fast." (TheWrap)



"It all comes down to demand. Can the act draw a crowd, is it someone people want to see? Doesn't matter how great the venue is, certainly doesn't matter how great the promoter is, it comes down to the act. Then again, people went to the Fillmores, the original ones, not the Live nation rebrands, for the Bill Graham experience. But not everything sold out. And business is better at the Hollywood Bowl, people like the experience at America's number one outdoor venue. But even the best promoter utilizing the best venue can't fill the house for an unknown or has-been or just plain lousy act. Concert promotion blew up in the late sixties and early seventies during the development and heyday of classic rock. Analogize it to video games ten years ago, or Facebook now. Music drove the culture, everybody wanted to participate. Kicked the tires at Electronic Arts recently? Their numbers are no longer so rosy. Video games are a mature business, and especially hit driven, just like the music business. The music business was fading in the late seventies .." (LefsetsLetter)



"The Museum of Modern Art has turned down the volume on Yoko Ono's atrium art installation Voice Piece for Soprano in response to complaints from visitors and employees. The installation features a microphone, speakers, and the instructions to visitors: 'Scream against the wind/ against the wall/ against the sky' on the far wall. But according to museum employees, the loud, sporadic screams that resulted startled visitors, while staff members strained to speak to museum-goers over the noise. 'It was disturbing to the staff at the information desk,' said one employee who wished to remain anonymous because MoMA discourages its staff from commenting on artwork or internal affairs." (Observer)